martin



UNITED STATES PATENT )EEICEO BENJN. c. MARTIN, or PHILADELPHIA,PENNSYLVANIA, AssIcNon To HIM- SELF, THOS. M. DAVIS, L. H. WALTON, ANDVATSON SANFORD.

PAoDLE-WHEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,771, dated July 1l,1865.

To all lwhom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN G. MARTIN,ofthe city ofPhiladelphia, in the State ofPenn- Sylvania, have inventeda new and useful Improvenient in Feathering Paddle-Vheels; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecication, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of the inner half,and Fig. 2 a vertical transverse section of the lower halt', of the saidimproved wheel, like letters of reference indicating the same parts'when in both gures. My invention relates to that class of featheringpaddle-wheels the paddles of which turn or oscillate on horizontaljournals placed inline with the middle of the width ot' said paddles orfloats, and it consists, substantially as herein` after described andspecified, of a smooth-faced friction roller or slide on a journalprojecting longitudinally from the upper inner edge or corner of thepaddle, and of an irregularlycurved smooth-faced bearing suspended fromthe shaft ofthe wheel and xed rigidly to the side ofthe vessel, the saidparts heilig' so arranged that during the forwarding rotary motion ofthe wheel the fa-ceof the said roller or slide willl'come'into contactwith the face ofthe bearingjust previously to the time the paddlereaches the water, turn the said paddle into a position radial to thecenter of the wheel, and keep it in that radial or nearly radialposition (by means ofthe said roller or slide moving on the rst portionof the said smooth curved face of the bearing) until the said paddlereachesa position directly under the shaft ofthe wheel, and then roll orslide on the second or eccentrically-curved portion of the face of thesaid bearing, and thus the roller and bearing, acting together, permitthe paddle to continue to keep its vertical position in the wateruntil'it leaves it and the curved bearings, when it passes freely roundin an inverted swinging position on the wheel until it again encountersthe curved bearin g.

In the drawings, A B is the wheel, C the shait, D D the paddles orfloats and d' d their friction-rollers, and E the curved bearing.

The frame of the wheel A B and its paddles D D are intended to be madeof iron, andthe former in the well-known skeleton or open form ofconstruction, there being in this case two series of radial arms, aa andb b', each series being fixed upon the shaft 0 at a proper distanceapart for the reception of the paddles D D between them, and having eacha peripheral rim, a2 b2, connected together bythe cross-bars F F, andhaving also a stretcher, b3, of wood,-

around the shaft C, which serves as an abutment against which to securethe arms properly upon the shaft. The arms of each series are alsoconnected together by intermediate pieces, a3 a3, (see Fig. 1,) whichserve as bearing-supports for the journals of the paddles D D, therespective journals of the latter working freely in the middle of thesame, so as to allow the paddles to oscillate freely thereon.

At one of the inner corners of each paddle a journal, d2, carrying afriction-roller, d', projects beyond the series of arms of the innerside of the wheel and the piece a3, while the open space between thesaid piece a3 and the two arms to which it is fixed allows a limitedextent of oscillation to the paddle, its frictionroller d being connedto that side of the piece a3 which is nearest to the center of theWheel. rlhe curved bearing E is suspended from the shaft G, and alsobolted firmly to thc boat or ship, a section of which latter isrepresented at G. lhis curved piece E presents on its outer side acurved plane or bearing-surface,1a/,Which is concentric to the shaft Cfrom its forward end, e2, to a vertical line passing through the centerof the shaft C, and from said line it is made gradually eccentric to itsopposite or rear end, e3. It is alsocounter-curved at its extreme ends,and is s0 placed as to turn the paddles D D (as their respective rollersd d are successively brought into contact with itduring the rotatorymotion of the wheelA B) upward into radial or nearly radial positionsbefore the said rollers can enter and move upon it, and 'so that whenthe rollers have successively mounted it it will, in connectio'n withthe rollers, continue to keep the paddles D D firmly in radial or nearlyradial positions while their said rollers are traversing the concentricportion of the said curved plane of bearing E; and so, also, that whilethe said rollers d are traversing` the eccentric portion of the saidcurved plane the paddles will be permitted to freely take and preserve aVertical or nearly Vertical position until they have left the water,when the weight of the rollers and their journals will cause the paddlesto tilt over into a proper position for being again operated by thecurved bearing E. These different positions ofthe paddles are clearlyrepresented in Fig. 1.

The intermediate rims, F F, correspond in size and form with the rims t2b2, and are secured in positions equidistant from each other andthe saidrims a2 and b2 by means of the cross-hars H, as seen in Fig. 2.

Operation: In the drawings the wh eei is represented as rotating, so asto propel the vessel forward in the direction of the arrow V, (see Fig.1,) and it will therefore he readily understood that as soon as thefriction-roller of either ofthe paddles is brought on the curved planeof the bearing E the paddle will then have been turned from its verticalto a radial position, and the roller will then tno-ve along ou thebearing E, holding thep'addle firmly in the radial position until theeccentric portion of the curve is entered upon by the roller, andconsequently the paddle gradually allowed to take and preserve aVertical or nearly Vertical position until it leaves the Water, thuseffecting more perfectly the object of feathering paddlewheels.

The construction, it will be seen, is comparatively simple, entirelyeffective, and not liable to get easily out of orderin use. It will alsohe seen that lthe intermediate guard-rims, F F, will he very effectivein preventing large pieces of ice and other large float-ing objects fromgetting into contact with the paddles-an important object to beeffected.

Having thus fully described my improvement and pointedout its utility,what I claim as new therein of my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

The smooth-faced friction slide or roller d on each of the doats orpaddles D D, and the smooth-faced irregularly-curved bearing E on thevessel, the said parts being constructed and arranged to operatetogether, substantially as and for the purpose described.

BENJAMIN GREEN MARTIN.

Witnesses BENJ. MomsoN, THOMAS M. DAVIS.

